Investors await solar power price regulations

HCMC – Many investors have been ready to take part in the solar power industry but they are still waiting for specific regulations from the Government to set prices.

“We have prepared US$30 million, bought a land lot in Binh Thuan Province and obtained a license for a 24MW solar power project. All we are waiting for is specific rules on solar power prices before starting construction,” Diep Bao Canh, general director of Red Sun Solar Energy JSC, said at a seminar on solar power development in southern Vietnam on November 23.

Other companies are also looking for government regulations on prices. According to a draft, relevant agencies have suggested a solar power price of 11.2 to 13.2 U.S. cents per kWh, which is attractive enough for investors to join the renewable energy sector, Canh added.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the HCMC Energy Conservation Center, said the sector has seen positive signs with investors such as Thanh Thanh Cong, Song Hong Group, Hoa Sen Group and foreign firms from Thailand and Germany. They have plans to develop projects from 30 to 100MW each.

However, investors still face difficulties due to the lack of policies on planning and pricing as well as land use procedures. The challenges are expected to last three or five more years.

To overcome these challenges, investors are advised to invest in solar powerprojects replacing power sources at industrial zones, factories and restaurants which are customers of the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN). The solution is more effective than investing in a solar farm, Tuoc said.

Speaking to the Daily at the seminar, Gavin Smith, director of Dragon Capital’s Clean Development fund, said the fund management firm has plans to invest US$15 million in 14 solar power projects with pre-feasibility studies already done. The projects, which belong to a solar power development program in the south, are expected to go up in HCMC, Dong Nai, Long An and Binh Duong provinces with the combined capacity of 18 million kWh a year.

Despite huge potential, investors in Vietnam still face some disadvantages, especially low power prices, Smith said.

Among ASEAN countries, Vietnam has yet to keep up with Thailand and the Philippines, which are attractive to investors thanks to solar power prices at 16 U.S. cents per kWh. Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh have also offered high electricity prices, he said.

Vietnam has strong potential for solar power development but solar energy is still little used.

Soure: english.thesaigontimes

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Vietnam, Ireland ink deals to build $2.2 billion wind farms

The farms, one in the central region and the other in the south, will have a combined capacity of 940 MW.

Companies from Vietnam, Ireland and the U.S. on Monday signed cooperation agreements to build two wind farms in Vietnam worth $2.2 billion.

Part of a wind farm in the Tuy Phong District of Binh Thuan Province. Photo courtesy of Nguoi Lao dong news site

The pacts are part of various deals reached by Vietnam and Ireland during the visit to Vietnam by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins from November 5-14.

Vietnam’s Phu Cuong Corporation will join hands with Ireland’s Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. and the U.S. giant General Electric to set up an 800-megawatt wind farm in the southern province of Soc Trang. The project will need $2 billion.

In the second project, Vietnam’s Pacific Corporation will cooperate with Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. to build another 140-MW wind farm in the central province of Binh Thuan, which is worth $200 million for construction.

The same day Vietnam and Ireland also signed other agreements on poverty reduction, education and training, information and communications.

Vietnam has recently revised down the target for electricity generation by coal-fired thermal power plants from 56.4 percent of the total electricity generation to 53.2 percent by 2030.

The country is more focused on renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy, targeting a renewable energy ratio of 10.7 percent by 2030.

But that will require a lot of investment in the coming years. Wind and solar power capacity is estimated to account for only 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent of total electricity generation respectively by 2020.

With over 3,000 km of coastline and numerous islands, Vietnam has more wind power potential than most of other Southeast Asian nations with a total estimated capacity of 24,000 MW, the Vietnam News Agency has reported.

Source: Bao Vnexpress

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Fast-growing Vietnam to invest $40 billion in electricity projects by 2020

The country is also shifting attention to renewable energy to meet the needs of the economy.

Vietnam may need to invest about VND859 trillion ($38 billion) in electricity generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure between now and 2020 to meet domestic demand, the government said in a new report.

 Fishermen working near the first towers of wind turbines from a Vietnamese wind power plant. Photo by AFP

That is equivalent to 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product last year.

According to the report, about 75 percent of the investment will go to generation and the remaining 25 percent to upgrade, repair and expand the national transmission and distribution system.

The government said a majority of the investment would be funded by loans and the state budget would cover only 0.5 percent.

The average electricity consumption steadily grew at 13 percent between 2000 and 2010, and about 11 percent between 2011 and 2015, said Le Tuan Phong, deputy head of the General Directorate of Energy, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The country’s electricity demand is expected to continue to grow 13 percent annually in the next four years to feed the economy, which has grown above 5 percent a year on average since 1999 and is forecast to reach 6.5-7 percent in the next four years.

It is estimated that Vietnam will need about 47 billion kilowatt-hours by 2030 for the annual economic growth rate of 7 percent.

Vietnam is trying to generate enough energy for growth and for millions of people who still lack access to electricity while gradually shifting towards clean and low-carbon energy, said Tran Dinh Thien, who heads the Vietnam Economic Institute.

The government has recently revised down the target for electricity generation by coal-fired thermal power plants from 56.4 percent of the total electricity generation to 53.2 percent by 2030.

Vietnam is more focused on renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy, targeting a renewable energy ratio of 10.7 percent by 2030.

But that will require a lot of investment in the coming years. Wind and solar power capacity is estimated to account for only 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent of total electricity generation respectively by 2020.

Source: Bao Vnexpress

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German firm jumps on Vietnam's renewable energy bandwagon

Terra Wood is proposing a $400 mln wind and solar energy project.

German green energy firm Terra Wood has revealed plans to invest $400 million in a wind and solar electricity project in Vietnam, contributing to an active week of renewable energy deals made by foreign investors.

The energy company has submitted an investment plan to build the project in Vietnam’s south central province of Quang Ngai, and on-site inspections started on August 3, according to the local People's Committee website.

Terra Wood's is the third renewable energy deal proposed to Vietnam in a week following a hydropower project run by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and Armstrong S.E. Clean Energy Fund and The Blue Circle’s wind energy project in Ninh Thuan Province.

Chairman of Quang Ngai People's Committee Tran Ngoc Cang welcomed the project and said the province will help facilitate the German investor's project. Cang also gave permission for Terra Wood to conduct research and surveys for the wind and solar electricity plants in Quang Ngai.The German-owned energy company will develop two electricity power plants, one wind and one solar, which will cover a total of 600 hectares with an output of 300 megawatts and total investment of $400 million.

Quang Ngai has immense potential for the development of wind and solar electricity, especially in the districts of Mo Duc and Duc Pho and the famous Ly Son Island. A number of foreign investors are also looking at electricity and renewable energy exploitation in Quang Ngai.

Beside Quang Ngai, foreign-invested solar and wind energy projects have been registered across the country, but only a few have been put into operation due to low electricity prices.

Terra Wood is an international group of consultancy, engineering and project development companies dedicated to green energy projects. Within the network, Terra Wood Vietnam is the country representative of Germany's ProfEC GmbH, which specializes in turnkey wind, biomass, biogas, wind, solar and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

Reference Resource: Bao Vnexpress

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Solar Energy Power Future in Vietnam

Although the initial investment cost for solar energy in Vietnam is high but it brings in opportunities for cheaper option than thermal power technology being used in Vietnam.

In other country, solar power plants are competing fiercely with the thermal power plants running on coal.

In Vietnam, Thien Tan solar energy plant has been started to construct on 24 ha land in Quang Ngai with capacity of 19.2 MW at investment of VND 800 bil.  The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also approved the investment project of Tuy Phong solar energy plant on 50 ha land in Binh Thuan with capacity of 30 MW at investment of VND 1,454 bil.  This will open opportunities for renewable energy to contribute to the effort of protecting the environment and curbing climate change.

The solar energy is new in Vietnam therefore the investment in this area is at very early stage.  However, the foreign investors have been increasingly interested in seeking opportunities in investment in solar energy projects.

Similar to investment in wind power energy in Vietnam, one of the concerns for investors is the expected increase in purchasing price from Electricity Vietnam Corporation, the party whom purchase the electricity on Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).   Further, legal frameworks for promoting solar energy investment are not yet finalized.  Accordingly, the contribution ratio of renewable energy in Vietnam is minimal.  The Vietnam government has been trying to put some effort to increase the renewable energy contribution to 5,6% (in 2020) and 9,4% (2030).

 To achieve this, Vietnam government shall need to be consulted on plan to support the solar energy investment project in Vietnam in tax, land, capital, power purchase agreement.  Investors would need to be consulted by local consulting firm on process, procedures on investment policy, appraisal process, power purchase agreement, and other steps to develop and execute an energy project in Vietnam to improve the effectiveness of the investment in renewable energy.

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